Last Few Days...

No post the last few days...very busy. I finally had my drain removed (I had a drain inserted under the skin at the site of the tissue expander) and all bandages removed by the plastic surgeon. Charity went with me to the appointment- while the nurse was waiting for me to sit on in the examination table, Charity said to her her in a whisper "I don't know if you received the memo or not, but they usually do a four point restraint on her". According to the plastic surgeon, I have set the record for the most people attending my appointments with me. For the first appointment where they discussed the biopsy results, both of my parents and Trinka accompanied me. For the preliminary meeting with the plastic surgeon, I again had both my parents plus Charity and Trisha accompanying me. The doctor seemed a bit taken aback as he had to go and get chairs from the waiting room to accommodate us all. I informed him that he was lucky- there were 2 other people who had wanted to come to this appointment but I had to turn them down. As it was, we had to come in two separate cars.

At that meeting there were so many of us that it caused some humorous confusion in the waiting room. When it was my turn to see the doctor they called my name in the waiting room; myself and those accompanying me all stood up and began to walk back. As my party made up about 2/3 of the people in the waiting room, one middle aged woman (who did not speak much English) assumed everyone was going back together so she stood up and eagerly followed us. We didn't really notice her until I was sitting down and taking off my sweater to have my blood pressure taken; Trish then noticed this lady who was also taking her sweater off and moving to (what must have, to her, appeared to be) the end of the blood pressure line. Charity had to try to explain through universal sign language, that she should go back to the waiting room and they would call her name soon. Trish was giggling too hard to explain anything, despite the fact that her grandpa speaks Spanish.

Another funny incident: the surgeon said that, after he completed his part of the surgery and the plastic surgeon took over, he went into the waiting room to talk to my family. To his surprise, there was no one there (Trink was in the hall, Trish was in the cafeteria and my mom and dad had not yet arrived). He went back in and reported to the other doctor that he tried to make a report but no one was there. The plastic surgeon said "no, I'm sure you're wrong. Go back, she's got a whole posse out there somewhere". He was right, of course. I have quite a support posse!

Today (Thursday) I have an appointment with the oncologist here in Marin; we will set the chemotherapy schedule and hammer out all the details. Will let you know what we decide- I am hoping to start early to mid next week.

An interesting piece of information- most people know that Marin County (where I grew up) has a very high rate of breast cancer. But what I didn't know is that within just 2 blocks where my parents live there have been 4 or 5 diagnosed cases of breast cancer. Very interesting, especially considering I have none of the risk factors associated with breast cancer (no close family history, no interruption in hormones such as the use of birth control, no loss of a pregnancy) not to mention I am way too young. All very strange.

Love,Faith